


Thermocouple Junction, missing scenes

by feverbeats



Series: Bioengineering [2]
Category: Captain America, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel
Genre: M/M, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-29
Updated: 2011-07-29
Packaged: 2017-10-21 22:11:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/230414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feverbeats/pseuds/feverbeats
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five missing scenes from <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/219266">Thermocouple Junction</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thermocouple Junction, missing scenes

**Tony and Obadiah and tabloids**   


Tony likes to think he's pretty up on pop culture and obeying all the rules of pop culture or else you pretty much  _die_ , and he knows the number-one rule about articles on the internet is  _don't read the comments_.

  
So here he is, a half an hour into the comments page of the thirty-first article he's read on the topic of  _Natasha Stark Wants To Be a Man!!!!_

Okay. Some of them are a little classier than that. A  _little_. Sure, all the gay news sites are on his side, and they even try to use the right pronouns for the most part. The rest of the sites, not so much. Tony bought just about every tabloid out there to see if the paper copies were any more legitimate, but he should have known better.

Forty-five minutes and on to another article, and Tony is starting to feel like crying. Only, no, because men don't do that. And that's not something that would have mattered to him until about five minutes ago and one wrong comment.

"Fuck," he says. His voice comes out hoarse, but refreshingly low.

"Tony?"

Tony shoves his disgustingly expensive computer off his lap and onto his desk before swiveling his chair around to face Obadiah. "Obie. Yes, hi, little busy right now. With the problem you said we'd throw money at until it went away. Don't know if you noticed, but it hasn't."

Obadiah slaps one huge hand over his eyes. "Tony, for heaven's sake."

He hasn't fucked up Tony's name or pronouns once since Tony got back. Tony doesn't know what to think about that.

"Look," Obadiah proceeds, crossing the room to put a hand on Tony's shoulder. "Get off the internet. Don't, don't, don't, come on, close that." He slaps Tony's hand away and shuts the laptop over Tony's protests. "Just do it. Trust me. This isn't helping us."

Tony tucks his feet up on the chair, feeling about six years old. He needs to stop spending time with Obadiah. Except, really, he doesn't, because he's home and his dad is still dead and everyone hates him and Obadiah is the only person huge enough to make the whole world right if he wants to.

Tony has also been drinking.

"You said people would forget it," he says.

Obadiah swipes Tony's half-empty bottle of rum off the desk and tosses it in the trash. "They  _will_. You just need to give me a little time. Tell you what, I'm going to call a press conference. Just a few sources, you can pick them. I'll give 'em a little story, enough to shut 'em up, and then we'll bury this. Okay?"

"Okay," Tony says, feeling slightly less miserable. "You're a fucking superstar."

Obadiah chuckles. "Hey, I just want to keep you in good condition to run this company. Right?" He holds out his hand.

"Right," Tony says, slapping his hand into Obadiah's a little harder than he means to. "Sorry, so drunk." He gives Obadiah a blinding smile, which hopefully conveys both gratitude and competence.

Obadiah sighs. "Get some sleep, Tony."

 **Tony and Rhodey and sexuality**   


"Are you  _ever_  not drunk?"

  
Tony waves in what he hopes is a conciliatory manner, but he's pretty sure it just makes him look drunker. "Yes," he says. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure. There have been times."

They're in Tony's lab, but he doesn't work drunk, so he's just showing Rhodey around. It's only fair, he figures, since Rhodey lets him hang out at the base without making too much of a fuss. It's not Tony's fault if he thinks soldiers are cute.

Rhodey picks up a piece of something Tony's pretty sure was supposed to be part of a modified book light. He doesn't have much time for reading anymore, though, not even the heavy science textbooks he used to read for fun.

"This is really what you spend your free time doing?" Rhodey asks.

"There's stuff. Other stuff. Like going to functions and making blueprints for missiles and oh yeah, going on dates." Tony crosses his arms, pleased with himself. "I don't just hang out with my sentient machines all day."

Rhodey sighs. "That sentient part better be a joke. Listen, I know a nice girl."

Tony leans back against his workbench and tosses a piece of piping in the air. "How nice for you. When's the wedding?"

"Tony, would it  _kill_  you to go out with someone nice once in a while? I'm talking actually nice, not like a one-night stand or something." He pauses. "Unless you'd rather go out with a guy. I know you're always joking--"

And huh, it would be totally surreal if Rhodey was cool with the trans stuff and not the liking-guys stuff. Then again, the trans stuff doesn't have a potential effect on  _him_. "Joking, yes," Tony says quickly. "But also not. It's kind of a thing. A thing where I'm in charge a huge company and I've already gotten enough interesting articles written about me to last a lifetime."

Rhodey raises his eyebrows. "Wait, are you telling me you're gay? Actually gay?"

"Aaargh," Tony says articulately. "Okay, now I wish I was drunker. May I remind you that bisexuality is a thing."

Rhodey looks thoughtful, or like he's trying to decide if Tony's kidding.

"Don't ask, don't tell?" Tony suggests.

"It's just weird." Rhodey crosses the workshop and punches Tony's arm. "I can't figure you out, Tony. Sometimes I don't know if any of this shit is true."

Out of all of the hurtful things someone could say to him, calling him a liar isn't even on the list. "Whatever," he says, waving it off. "Doesn't matter. You're my best friend anywhere, whether or not I fuck men or am men or whatever. Both. Don't worry, not gonna hit on you."

Rhodey's laugh is a little forced, but that's probably Tony's imagination. "Uh huh. Well, don't worry, I won't set you up with anyone nice, male or female."

Tony nods, pretty sure Rhodey means it. He isn't usually the type to offer Tony help if he's turned down once, which is one of the reasons they're still friends. Rhodey may complain, but he lets Tony live his own life. Which is probably horrible for both of them, but at least Tony enjoys it.

He doesn't bother mentioning to Rhodey that he has to check into his dates pretty thoroughly to make sure they aren't just in it for the shock value of fucking a celebrity who may-or-may-not-be. That whole deal.

"Hey," he says, "you're the best. Let me finish the grand tour."

 **Tony and Pepper and blood**  
  
"So, this is embarrassing."

"Only you," Pepper says, sounding exasperated. She must be beyond shaken up, or she'd have better control over actually sounding like she has an opinion.

"Yes," Tony agrees, "totally did this on purpose."

His armor is all dented up. Parts of it are smoking. And he's bleeding kind of a lot.

"All I need is a few little stitches," he wheedles. "I can get one of the robots to do it, but I'd rather not. They're not as careful as you are." His hand is pressed hard against the inside of his thigh to stop the blood.

Pepper stares at him for a second, looking angrier than ever. Then she says, "Get the rest of the armor off. I want to see where else you're hurt."

Tony strips the armor off painfully, noticing a lot more blood than he'd like in a lot more places. The reactor at the center of his chest isn't damaged, though. "No broken heart," he says cheerfully.

Pepper gives him a quelling look. "You need a hospital."

"I need you."

Pepper huffs. "Tony, you're bleeding a  _lot_. I'm not a nurse." Even as she's scolding him, though, she grabs a clean cloth and dabs at some of his wounds.

"I don't—ahh!—I don't do hospitals." He's pretty sure most of the blood has stopped oozing out and is just getting spread around, but he's not sure.

"Well, you should," Pepper says a little frantically. Her hand stops over one of his scars, which is probably going to have a brand new scar right through it. "Oh. Is it because of--?"

Tony wants to wear a huge sign that says  _My gender is not a huge deal, can we please move on?_ , but being famous sucks. "Uh, Pepper,  _bleeding_. Is now really the time? But yeah, I'd rather answer a bunch of stupid questions for you than for a bunch of guys with stethoscopes who don't know me."

Pepper nods and sets her jaw. "Then I guess I'll have to do my best."

There are six thousand reasons for Tony to avoid kissing Pepper, but right now he can't remember any of them. He shuts his eyes and lets her work so he won't have to worry about it.

 **Tony and Fury and telling**  
  
"Niiiiiick."

Fury glares at him with—well, you know. "I take it back. You're the only one."

Tony kicks his feet up on Fury's desk. "Too late, you said it. C'mon, spill." No one is going to be able to stop him from forming a group of trans superheroes now. He just needs more information.

Fury sighs. "What happened to Don't Ask, Don't Tell?"

"This isn't the army and I'm not talking about  _gay_  superheroes," Tony shoots back.

"Okay." Fury leans forward. "Some of the X-Men, for sure. I'm not saying which ones. Xavier'd have my head."

Tony rolls his eyes. "I don't want to know about the stupid X-Men. I mean  _real_ superheroes. People I can recruit. Or harass."

"Oh, you're making a real case for yourself. All right, I heard Spider-Woman was."

Nick Fury doesn't "hear" anything. He has files on these people.

Tony shoots upright in his seat. "Gotta go. Things to do."

 **Tony and Steve and sex**  
  
Steve's entire existence is unfair and his interest in Tony is unfair and two of his fingers being inside Tony is the most unfair of all. Tony cannot fucking think. All he can do, apparently, is make stupidly high whining noises and jerk his hips.

And Tony's used to winding up in bed with people who are willing to take cheap shots at him, but after all this time and everything he's done, he figures he kind of deserves cheap shots. It's not like he can't take them in stride.

He's not used to people like Steve.

"Oh my God," Tony gasps. They've been doing this for what feels like an hour. He's naked and shaking, and he can safely say he's never felt like this before.

"Too much?" Steve asks, immediately stopping.

"No," Tony says, because, yes, making words. Important. "Just, God, give me a second." If he's telling the truth, it  _is_  a little too much, but maybe not for the reasons Steve means. He forces himself to breathe like a normal person.

Steve still hasn't fucked him, except with his tongue or with his fingers. Tony's guessing he's worried that Tony's fragile or something, which—Okay, yes. Steve just worries for the wrong reasons. "Little bit crazy and also kinda worried and maybe bipolar" doesn't sound as neat as "trans and still dealing with it," though. Tony will communicate the difference eventually.

Now, though, he takes a deep breath and says, "Okay, go."

Steve nods and begins working his fingers inside Tony again, maddeningly slow. He swipes his thumb over Tony's—clit, dick, whatever, the word doesn't matter—and squeezes his thigh gently. "You good?"

"No, no, just come on," Tony hisses, furious with Steve for being so  _careful_. "Just  _do it_."

Steve puts his hand on Tony's hip, holding him in space while he finger-fucks him. "Easy, Tony. Just come with me."

Tony practically sobs with frustration. Then Steve's fingers finally hit him just right, curling deep inside, and he grinds down hard, shuddering into an orgasm.

Not the best sex he's ever had, but. Well. Something. Something important and different, just like every time with Steve. He's going to keep doing this until he figures it out.

Steve wipes his fingers somewhat ruefully on the sheets and lies down next to Tony. "You look—Handsome. Amazing."

"Beautiful is okay," Tony says, nuzzling Steve's shoulder. So what if Steve sees how charmed he is?

Steve nods and props himself up on his elbow, regarding Tony critically. He runs his hand lightly over Tony's chest, fingers barely touching the faintly glowing reactor plate. His index finger brushes Tony's right nipple, the one that still has feeling in it.

"Did it hurt?" Steve asks.

Tony gives Steve a little smile. "Which one?"

"Oh,  _Tony_ ," Steve says, and he wraps his hand around Tony's wrist so hard it hurts.

"Nah," Tony says quickly, "it's okay. It is."

It is.


End file.
